The 3-Piece Suit Radiologist: Lessons from Legos

Lessons from Legos: Diagnostic imaging equipment for Third World countries

Many companies generously donate imaging equipment to impoverished
regions like sub-Saharan Africa; however, according to the World Health
Organization, as high as 70% of medical equipment donated to developing
nations becomes unusable. This is simply tragic and wasteful. Donated
imaging equipment that soon ends up in a medical equipment “graveyard”
instead of assisting in the diagnosis of sick patients doesn’t help
anyone.

Our mission should be to create a product that won’t simply become a
useless white elephant that will only take a toll on the environment. To
this end, the goal of designing imaging equipment for Third World
countries should be simple: Think easy-to-repair, small, and light. It
doesn’t help to donate complicated imaging equipment to Third
World countries, because it is quite likely that the local population
will not have the proper infrastructure or technically skilled workers
either to readily obtain spare parts or to make repairs if the equipment
breaks.

To create access to care and imaging in these countries, the
equipment created and donated should be as simple to build and repair as
a Lego creation, and as light and easy to use as a piece of simple
Shaker furniture. Therefore, when designing equipment to aid nations
without sufficient infrastructure, creating the most uncomplicated machine
possible to obtain diagnostic-quality images is most helpful. How
should this be accomplished? Here are some of my ideas:

Think small and light. Smaller and lighter equipment than that
typically found here in the U.S., along with fewer adjoining parts,
should in theory be very portable and easy to repair. For example,
ultrasound probes which have attached iPhone- and iPad-like screens are
small and easy to handle. Ideally, the screens should have parts very
similar if not identical to other portable devices.

Create simple spare parts. Many of the hospitals do not have the
equipment or skilled technicians to repair broken medical devices or
imaging equipment. As such, parts should be simple to use when making
repairs (such as being able to “snap onto” a given piece of equipment,
much like a Lego building block). Training should be supplied to the
technician at the medical center in advance, in the event of future
product failure. A handy guide to demonstrate how to repair the
equipment would also be useful.

Design with the environment in mind. Reuse, reduce, and recycle. In
addition, using raw materials that are environmentally sound creates
less of a footprint when the machine eventually does need to be retired
to the equipment graveyard.

Remember that each facility has unique needs. It is better to design
a product for the actual populations that will use it, rather than
taking a one-size-fits-all approach. Talk with the radiologists; let
them describe what their needs are at their particular facility.

Access is not always created by excess. Sometimes the simplest and
most economical health solutions are the best ones. The simpler and more
cost-effective product will often be the most effective and easiest to
use by medical professionals who live and work in areas with little
infrastructure. As Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, one of the greatest
architects of the 20th century once said, “Less is more.”